New Japanese verbs: 受ける＝ウケる？

The verb 受ける, to take is used when “given/provided from something/someone” such as 試験を受ける, take an examination and 説明を受ける, take a guidance. However, recently there is a different meaning that is used amongst youths. For example, some youths will often say うける while laughing or they may say めっちゃうける for something interesting. The meaning seems to be something like おもしろい or interesting. After interviews were conducted with youths under 20 in the Shibuya area of Tokyo it seems that 受ける is written ウケる. It seems that it is used as a word that is different from 受ける. Mainly used by the generation under the early 30s but its use has become more popular in the last 5-6 years. So why is it that “given/provided from something/someone” is taking the meaning of おもしろい? When we look into this, the original, “given/provided from something/someone” came from the Edo period expression 「芝居がうける」, shibai wo ukeru (see a theater) meaning “theater that becomes popular, reputable”. So it would be more like, “reputation/popularity provided by an audience to a theater”. A common example of how this would be used now would be, 「新商品が消費者にうける」(the new product is received by the consumer). Later the position changed and the meaning became 【観客が喜ぶ】(the audience is happy) and is used in the following way「観客が○○にうける」. Therefore, the expression becomes, “the audience is provided with pleasure from the theater”. Recently, according to younger generations, “pleasurable” things has been limited to “interesting things” and “things that follow laughter”. This maybe largely influenced by the comedy boom. It is unknown whether or not this expression is here to stay or not but its overuse among the youth can be a little unpleasant to hear or perhaps one may have to be careful as to how it is used.

Tags: Japanese grammar